1.Technical Field
Example embodiments relate generally to semiconductor integrated circuits, and more particularly to a nonvolatile memory device and a method of performing an erase operation in a nonvolatile memory device.
2.Discussion of the Related Art
Nonvolatile memory devices may maintain stored data even though power is off. While volatile memory devices are widely used as main memories of various apparatuses, nonvolatile memory devices are widely used for storing program codes and/or data in various electronic devices, such as computers, mobile devices, etc. Recently, nonvolatile memory devices of three-dimensional structure such as a vertical NAND memory device have been developed to increase integration degree and memory capacity of the nonvolatile memory devices. According to the increase in the integration degree and memory capacity, unit capacity of an erase operation corresponding to the minimum number of the simultaneously-erased memory cells is increasing.